US Soccer 100 Years Old – Time to Build a Permanent Home?

The great South American novelist, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, is most celebrated for his novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude. Perhaps the title could be applied to US soccer.

Roughly, the novel’s arc shadows a family establishing a home on a river bank, reflecting on misfortunes, facing a hostile environment. Kicking soccer in the teeth was a mainstream sports fan’s pastime for much of the twentieth century.

The game survived hidden in pockets until acres of suburban grass was painted with soccer lines. Soccer was safe for those who abandoned the cities. Add boost through soccer on cable TV, the internet, globalization, branding and video games. Mockery turned to interest even fandom. International soccer allows Americans to bugle USA! USA! aimed at the rest of the world. It feels good.

US Soccer celebrates 100 candles on its cake this weekend. In Washington, the Mens National Team beat Germany 4-3. The US Womens team put Canada in the syrup, winning 3-0 in Toronto. President Obama delivered a congratulatory message on ESPN at halftime. He announced the men would be at the World Cup in Brazil next year. Maybe he knows something we don’t. Or perhaps it was his unflinching American optimism or someone in the White House forgetting to check that the US needs to qualify like very other nation.

The atmosphere at RFK stadium in D.C. was fantastic, almost 50,000 in attendance, mostly American supporters. Is it time for the US national teams to have a permanent home in the nation’s capital?

The pros – other nations establish their history inside national stadiums. English players know the bounty and weight of running on to the grass of Wembley stadium. Brazil stamps identity on the Maracana in Rio. Mexican soccer worships at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. By contrast, US soccer is a traveling caravan visiting all points of the compass. Save those trips for exhibition games. World Cup qualifying matches need to be fought in a fortress where the players feel connected to the roar of home.